Longest Streak Of No U.S. Tornado Deaths Unfortunately Ends

A tornado spins through Kentucky
on Saturday. 

Two people died during tornadoes in the mid-South of the United States Saturday ending a record long 284 streak of no tornado deaths in the nation. 

Before Saturday, the last time someone died in a tornado was on May 16, 2017, when twisters caused fatalities in Wisconsin and Texas.

The bad news, of course, is we are just heading into tornado season. Spring and early summer are the time of year the United States gets the most tornadoes. As we get into March, and especially April and May, the risk of strong, deadly tornadoes escalates dramatically.

In fact, additional severe storms are possible Tuesday in Wednesday in parts of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

As bad as Saturday was, it could have been worse. Tornadoes caused a lot of damage to dozens of homes in Tennessee and Arkansas. One person died in Adairville, Kentucky and another person passed away in Clay County, Arkansas.

The other destructive tornadoes on Saturday caused some injuries, but no deaths.

Tornado damage in Tennessee Saturday. 

Flooding has been as bad, or even worse problem than the tornadoes and severe storms. There's widespread flooding from Pennsylvania to Arkansas, and some rivers haven't yet crested.

In Ohio, Gov. John Kasitch has issued an emergency declaration for 17 counties. Large areas of the Louisville, Kentucky metro region were under water on Saturday.

As expected, the storm that caused the tornadoes and flooding is up in our neck of the woods in New England.

A damaged red pickup truck is removed after it slid into
a ditch near my St. Albans, Vermont home Sumday morning
amid a mix of sleet, snow and freezing rain. 

As forecast, it's an ugly Sunday out there with plenty of sleet, freezing rain, and a little snow and rain. I noticed a pickup truck slid off the road and was damaged on my road in St. Albans, Vermont this morning.    

In western New England areas like Vermont especially, the precipitation will tend to taper off this afternoon, but it will remain damp and cloudy and raw and quite windy, with gusts exceeding 40 mph at times.

After a rather calm, warmish week, there are signs of some sort of strong storm in the northeastern United States toward Friday.

It's too soon to say who, if anyone, will get rough weather out of that storm. And if there is rough weather, it's also too soon to say what kind of crappy conditions would develop.